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Help with a cheesecake bonbon


Bentley

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I had a request to do a cheesecake bonbon, and I have found a few different ways of doing it.  One recipe is basically a cheesecake recipe thinned out with cream - but no chocolate.  I saw a Melissa Coppel recipe where she does a cheesecake mousse using gelatin - also no chocolate.   Another option is a essentially a cream cheese ganache - basically cream cheese, glucose, sugar, vanilla, butter and white chocolate.  The cheesecake filling would be be layered with a fruit jelly so I don't need to incorporate it .  How are you guys doing cheesecake bonbons? Other than caramels, all my fillings have chocolate inside, so I'm leaning that way, but I am curious what others are doing.

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I tend to use Paul A Young's goats cheese and lemon bonbon recipe from Adventures With Chocolate.  It's a brilliant lemon cheesecake recipe (don't put too much goats cheese in though as it will cause a very sharp "twang" in the taste.  I have previously layered this with a thin barrier of chocolate and then put a cheesecake biscuit base in it.

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Sian

"You can't buy happiness, but you can buy chocolate, and that's kinda the same thing really."

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Is the recipient going to eat the bonbons quickly? If not, I would be concerned with shelf life.  You might want to read this thread on the shelf life of bonbons with cheese, especially my quotes from Sebastian from The Chocolate Life. I respect everything he says about the technical aspects of chocolate, and he scared me off trying the Stilton and port filling:

 

 

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4 hours ago, Jim D. said:

Is the recipient going to eat the bonbons quickly? If not, I would be concerned with shelf life.  You might want to read this thread on the shelf life of bonbons with cheese, especially my quotes from Sebastian from The Chocolate Life. I respect everything he says about the technical aspects of chocolate, and he scared me off trying the Stilton and port filling:

 

 

These will be pretty much for immediate consumption.  I don't sell anything at this point.  If I do start selling, I would definitely want to get an AW meter.

I know that Norman Love sells a strawberry cheesecake bonbon that is described as rich New York style cheesecake topped with strawberry jam in a white chocolate shell.  All of his chocolates have a shelf life of 21 days.  So it is definitely doable.

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We made a cheesecake piece that was very nice at the workshop this year. It started with a baked cheesecake then the addition of cream and chocolate I believe. Don't have those recipes with me - won't have access for a day or so. Perhaps someone else from the workshop can PM it to you.

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18 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

We made a cheesecake piece that was very nice at the workshop this year. It started with a baked cheesecake then the addition of cream and chocolate I believe. Don't have those recipes with me - won't have access for a day or so. Perhaps someone else from the workshop can PM it to you.

No hurry. If you wouldn't mind sending it to me whenever you get a chance, I'd love to give it a try. 

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  • 1 year later...
1 hour ago, Chocoguyin Pemby said:

Kerry Beal any chance you could share that recipe with me.  If it’s handy.  Also where is the chocolate workshop taking place this year?  I haven’t heard.  

Don't know if I have it with me here in SFO - I'll check.

 

Workshop this year in St Louis - here you go!

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  • 5 months later...

There's a recipe in So Good from a year back or so.

 

150 g cream cheese

75 g mascarpone

75 g fromage blanc (couldn't find this, used low/non fat quark)

418 g white chocolate (opalys)

30 g invert sugar

50 g glucose

3 g salt

Orange and lemon zest (don't recall how much)

One vanilla bean

 

I can check the "magazine" when I'm home. This is just from my notes.

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On 11/1/2017 at 4:25 PM, Bentley said:

 Another option is a essentially a cream cheese ganache - basically cream cheese, glucose, sugar, vanilla, butter and white chocolate.  

 

Since you have resurrected this topic... I know your original post is several years old, but do you have any more details of that recipe?

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7 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

Since you have resurrected this topic... I know your original post is several years old, but do you have any more details of that recipe?

I tried a couple of recipes based on my own formulations using cream cheese, vanilla, glucose and white chocolate.  I didn't get anything that I loved.  The one time that I created a cheesecake bonbon that I actually served, I used a tip from a friend at Norman Love Confections.  She told me to just make a basic white chocolate ganache, cut up a slice of cheesecake and use a blender to mix it in.  Voila: cheesecake ganache.  It tasted great, but I don't know the shelf life. 

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The recipe I posted is by Susanna Yoon. I read somewhere that she recommends that her bonbons are eaten within a week or so. I would guess that the shelf life isn't very long.

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On 7/2/2019 at 12:42 PM, Bentley said:

Old thread...but I just saw @Pastrypastmidnight's Cheesecake BonBon on instagram, and it is glorious!

I would love to know how to do this if Jessica wants to share some details....

 

 

I used Susanna’s recipe from So Good that @Rajala posted. I’m going to do a shelf study, but I have a friend who uses this recipe subbing the fromage blanc for fromage fraïche and she says it lasts her 4-6 weeks, I think. Water is high, but I bet there are ways to adjust it for longer shelf life. It is a beautiful recipe. I made 5 different flavors so I could use up all the stupid fromage blanc that I had to drive into the city to buy ;). 

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I just can't get around the caveats about using cheese in a bonbon that I posted previously in this thread from someone who has a lot of scientific knowledge about such things (his screen name is Sebastian, but I don't know his last name). He described all the procedures he felt were necessary to render the filling safe to sell/eat (they involved sous vide processing and pressure cooking). I am sure many will think I am being overly cautious, but I still recall the cautionary anecdote from an acquaintance of mine. I have posted it before, but basically, I encountered this person, who had been given a box of my chocolates at Christmas, and she informed me, with great enthusiasm, that she was still enjoying them. A compliment, until you know that it was in April that she said this to me. At my shocked look, she added that she had just read the enclosure that said "...should be eaten within two to three weeks." A seller has absolutely no control over what happens to a box of chocolates after the sale is complete. And I am not soothed by the fact that I include instructions on shelf life in every box I sell.

 

I suppose the issue about using cheese comes down to one simple question: how is cream cheese/fromage blanc, etc., different from cream?  I don't know the answer to that, except that, at least in the U.S., grocery store heavy cream is "ultra-pasteurized" (whatever that means in practical terms).

 

I wish I had solid information that would contradict my qualms, and I stand ready to be corrected. I would love to know, for example, how Norman Love's cheesecake bonbon is formulated. Surely he has too much to lose by selling an unsafe bonbon. I remain intrigued about replicating cheesecake in a bonbon and have not given up (yesterday I found a recipe for making homemade graham crackers). I found online some dried cream cheese, but (as I would expect) it got very mixed reviews, and sounds a bit disgusting to me. With some trepidation--because I know many will scorn this idea--I will say that in my searching I discovered that Amoretti makes a natural cheesecake flavoring, and I have ordered some. I have been very impressed with almost all of their natural line of flavorings (which, in the case of fruit flavors, are made from the fruit in question, e.g., pineapple, passion fruit, mango). This may turn out to be a total waste of time and money, but I'm going to experiment when it arrives. But I will not be investing in a sous vide setup and pressure cooker in this experiment! There are limits. 

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Cream cheese is made by acidifying cream straining the curd and compressing it. There would be no reason not to use that in a bonbon because it is not an active culture.

 

Sebastian’s actual name is not Sebastian!

Edited by Kerry Beal (log)
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Then there is this from livestrong.com:

 

 

Quote

 

Refrigerating Baked Goods

Cheesecake is not alone in the list of baked goods that require refrigeration. Store cakes and other baked delicacies made with a cream cheese filling or frosting in the refrigerator. Chill custard and pumpkin pies made with perishable dairy ingredients such as eggs and milk. In the refrigerator, a baked cheesecake keeps fresh for three to seven days; in the freezer cheesecake keeps for up to six months. If the cheesecake or other baked item containing cream cheese is left out at room temperature for more than two hours in the danger zone -- between 40 and 140 F -- harmful bacteria may have invaded, making the treat unsafe to eat.

 

Identifying Spoiled Goods

The tricky thing about foodborne illness is that your dessert might still look perfectly delicious, even after it has been contaminated. After two hours at room temperature, and one hour during hot days over 90 F, bacteria begin to multiply at double their rate in as little as 20 minutes. These bacteria are invisible to the human eye and do not affect the taste of the dessert. Pregnant women, the elderly and young children are considered most likely to get sick or experience discomfort after eating contaminated food such as unrefrigerated baked goods made with cream cheese.

 

 

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34 minutes ago, BeeZee said:

Is the cream cheese within a bonbon anerobic because it is encased in chocolate?

That's a good question (to which I do not have the answer).

 

I should have added to my earlier posts that if I were making chocolates for dinner guests or for friends to take home, I would not hesitate to use all sorts of potentially dangerous ingredients. I can easily picture a bonbon filled with a flavored pastry cream.

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I would imagine its possible to make a workable cheesecake ganache from Susanna's recipe without using the fromage blanc and mascarpone.  Most cheesecakes are made with just cream cheese after all. If you do like the taste and texture, it shoudl be possible to balance a recipe for a good shelf life. Water is water no matter what the source, and as long as you are binding the free water, it shouldn't matter if it is from cream, creme fraiche, fromage blanc or anything else.  The problem is that accurately measuring Aw is an expensive proposition.  The meters are quite spendy for a home chef. 

 

Also, Norman Love Confections just retired their strawberry cheesecake bonbon (along with 7 other flavors).  Maybe Norman will be willing to share some info about his recipe.  Next time I see him, I will ask.  

 

Jessica - your graham cracker crust looks denser than a regular crust.  Does it have chocolate in it?

 

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21 minutes ago, Bentley said:

I would imagine its possible to make a workable cheesecake ganache from Susanna's recipe without using the fromage blanc and mascarpone.  Most cheesecakes are made with just cream cheese after all. If you do like the taste and texture, it shoudl be possible to balance a recipe for a good shelf life. Water is water no matter what the source, and as long as you are binding the free water, it shouldn't matter if it is from cream, creme fraiche, fromage blanc or anything else.  The problem is that accurately measuring Aw is an expensive proposition.  The meters are quite spendy for a home chef. 

 

Also, Norman Love Confections just retired their strawberry cheesecake bonbon (along with 7 other flavors).  Maybe Norman will be willing to share some info about his recipe.  Next time I see him, I will ask.  

 

Jessica - your graham cracker crust looks denser than a regular crust.  Does it have chocolate in it?

 

It’s a praliné layer. So yes, it does :)  

Edited by Pastrypastmidnight (log)
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5 hours ago, Pastrypastmidnight said:

Yes, but harmful bacteria will grow in cream if left out at room temp as well. It will grow in fresh fruit and I use that in my fillings too. Doesn’t it just come down to binding the free water?

Yup!

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